Supporters of Francis Mill recently helped celebrate the mill’s designation as a National Register of Historic Places site.

Mill tours and Trantham family harmonies of old time music recalled days when people gathered at the local grist mill to socialize and turn the labor involved with growing wheat and corn into staples for family consumption.

Blue Ridge National Heritage Area (BRNHA) was the major funding agency, and Rob Bell of that organization helped implement the grant. BRNHA is an agency that promotes tourism-related projects connected to the agriculture, crafts, Cherokee, music and natural heritage of the area.

Blue Ridge Community Organization (BRCO) Historic Preservation Committee was overseer of the grant, and BRCO was a funding organization for the project. Also assisting with financing were Francis Mill Preservation Society, Haywood County Historical & Genealogical Society, and Mast General Store.